I found THIS on the street where I park one of my cars. I have no idea what it is, or if it even came from my car. Any ideas?
That looks like part of a window/wall AC unit. If it’s copper I’d be willing to bet it’s a refrigeration part.
ETA, it’s hard to tell the size. I’m guessing it’s about as big as your finger (as oppose to being, say, muffler sized)
Oh, there’s more pictures. Okay, it looks like part of a TXV, but the single tube coming out of the bottom is throwing me off.
Like this, but I’m not familiar with the extra pipe
I don’t think it is an auto part. Part of an home AC unit, or a refrigerator maybe, but any auto part I have ever seen.
Thanks for the replies. I feel a little better.
The car I park on the street is our “beater” car. Only 80k miles but they were hard miles. I’d never seen anything like that part, so when I found it under the car I kind of assumed it was from the car. But other people do park there during the day.
But…an air conditioner part?
No idea who would have had that. Maybe it fell out of the garbage truck?
Probably not a garbage trucker, but a scrapper. Those people you see riding around in old beat up pickups with trailers full of siding and washing machines and scrap metal…copper is their gold.
Or it could have just fallen out of an HVAC truck.
The other reason I don’t think it came from your car is that it looks like it’s been rolling around in the street for a while. It looks to scuffed up to have been in service any time recently.
Looks like an oil separator/return from an A/C unit to me.
refrigerant and oil mix comes in through the top, oil collects in the bottom, while the refrigerant is evacuated out the other line in the top.
Most cars have something like this, but much larger and usually aluminum.
Yours looks like it was off of a window A/C unit.
The thing is, I live on a very short, quiet street that’s a dead end. I know 99% of the vehicles that drive here, including those that park there during the day. None of them fall into this category. Which is why I mentioned the garbage truck (I found the part on garbage day [Friday] about 3 hours after the truck passed through.) But how would it have fallen out of the truck and rolled under my car? It’s not the type of of part that rolls.
Hey, it’s Sunday night. This is the best mystery you’re going to get. Columbo is off the air and McCloud is dead.
Those scrappers are usually pretty quick (and usually out on garbage day).
Any heavy rain or wind that could have carried it from another street?
Heh. I live on a pretty good hill. If this thing came from another street it would have been a “we’re not in Kansas anymore” type rain/wind. I’m in the middle of the hill too, Slop pours completely down to the tracks during a good storm. Better than hanging around and going in my basement, I say!